This invention relates to an improved saw table for accommodating a standard portable power tool, such as a circular saw or router, in any one of two positions at right angles to each other which may be desired for various operations, such as cross-cutting and rip-cutting operations of a circular saw. The present invention provides an improved, safer construction of a saw table in that the power tool may be moved from one position to another without remounting the tool by withdrawing the tool support plate assembly from the ends of channelled guide tracks.
The saw table of the present invention accommodates a portable circular saw on a square tool plate which is slidably mounted in channels of a pair of spaced, parallel I-beam shaped guide tracks supported on a work engaging base. Precision cuts may be made in a workpiece in either a cross-cutting or rip-cutting operation without requiring any remounting or resetting of the saw on the tool plate. Consisting of relatively few and inexpensive parts, the saw table of the present invention has built-in safety features not found in prior art units to reduce the possibility of a power tool becoming accidentally detached from the saw table.
The I-beam structure of the guide tracks provides a rigid structure and also protects against the hazards which may result when a saw blade is pinched by the kerf cut in a workpiece causing the saw to kick back at the operator, while still permitting the saw to be freely moved parallel to, and withdrawn from, the tracks of the saw table without requiring clumsy clamping operations. To move a mounted saw between crosscut and ripcut positions, an operator merely slides the tool plate beyond the ends of the tracks, rotates the tool plate-saw structure ninety degrees, and reinserts the tool plate in the channels of the track in the desired position. A releasable stop is provided to prevent accidental withdrawal of the tool plate from the guiding channels of the track.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from the claims and from the accompanying drawings in which each and every detail shown is fully and completely disclosed as a part of this specification in which like numerals refer to like parts.